Everyone's an Amateur When It Comes to Negotiation

Executives Master the Art of Business Deals, But Some Don't Bargain Well for Themselves

By

Joann S. Lublin

Aug. 22, 2014 10:37 a.m. ET

When Noah Hanft was general counsel and chief franchise officer of MasterCard Inc., he observed management colleagues deftly arrange deals for the big credit-card company.

Yet when it came to their own careers, some executives' negotiation skills seemed to vanish. Mr. Hanft says he once refused to promote a senior manager because his 20-minute monologue pushing for an executive role showed "he couldn't communicate well." In...